Hi, I'm thinking of setting up a social network, focusing on films etc. The site will contain google adsense. I would love to be able to post film trailers/images etc on the front page. Few questions regarding that. 1) Is there legally allowable content such as film trailers/images etc that I can use on the front page of the site, and if so where do I find it? I suspect you cannot just grab it from anywhere online , do you have to contact certain companies and ask them to provide you with this content? and if so whats the best way to go about doing that? Is it better to contact them before the site is setup or after it's getting some decent traffic etc? 2) What would be the situation for members uploading copywritten material? Obviously I'm not going to be able to monitor 24/7 every image that a person uploads to their page, am I covered if I just make it clear in the terms and conditions that they should not upload any copywritten material? and if they do and I'm not aware of it, then what? thanks for any advice.
You are responsible for any content on your site. Here is the official Adsense policy: https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=115995
cool thanks, but what about question 1) and the issue of using the copywritten material such as films trailes/images etc?
As regards question 1, you must gain their permission to use their product for each company whose imagery/films you wish to show. They might license these to you for a fee or you could try to get them to sponser the site and in return you offer them advertising space. It depends on your powers of persuasion and negotiation as you have to be able to offer them something in return. If you can't afford to pay for a license, they are likely sponsor the site for advertising space if you have a strong rate of traffic moving through the site. Alternatively, you could offer them a back-link facility to get the negotiations started for use of their imagery/films! This is what my friends do to get the right material for their websites.